Wellness Council

Some of the things that I learned from browsing the site were that the WELCOA finds that using Result-Oriented Approaches is a more effective way at getting employees to have more healthy lifestyles. This approach uses more research when creating programs, so more information is able to be given to participants. This tells me that it is ok as an employer or PH director to start at activity-oriented programs and then move my way towards result-oriented as I become more familiar with the company and the people.

Under free resources, there is a plethora of information for people to use. There are free reports that contain valuable information for creating HP programs in the workplace. Also there are past interviews that can help guide you to hire the right kind of the person for the job. I think that the most interesting was the case studies. There you can find information of America's Healthiest Companies, and see what they are doing to find such success. From that you can pick and choose what you would like to implement into your health promotion program.
I found all of this information very useful, I didnt know this website even existed so it is nice to know I will have this for future information.

Jobs in the Health Field

So when I looked up the different words a lot of jobs popped up. I looked at the most relevant ones, and looked at their requirements as well as job descriptions. Below are some of my findings:

Health Education
Assistant CEO for SOPHE
A masters degree in Public Health required, and CHES is preferred. This person would assist the CEO for SOPHE

Project Coordinator for SOPHE
Bachelor Degree in PH, CHES preferred.
designed projects in conjuntion with the CDC

Biostatistics
Research Analyst with Social and Scientific Systems Inc.
MS in Public Health required

Policy and Management
Environmental Health Manager for SOPHE
Masters in Public Health required (environmental emphasis)

Epidemiology
same as Biostatistics
Bachelors in public Health required

Community Health
Public Health Nutritionist for Kent County Michigan
BS in Nutrition or Dietetics

Health Disparities
Senior Policy Associate for Child Health for the Childrens Defense Fund
At least a Masters in Public Health or Public Policy

What I discovered was that a lot of the jobs I found required a masters degree. There were a few that only required a bachelors, and many preferred CHES. There were a ton of jobs listed for each of the searches, so it is obvious that our field is not lacking in the job market.

Nation's Health Review

I read an article from the October 2008 edition of the magazine. The article was entitled "Choose accountability: Keep the legal U.S. drinking age at 21". It was an article written by the president of the APHA. The article discussed how there have been quite a few college presidents pushing congress to lower the legal drinking age to 18. They attribute their reasoning to their inability to control the binge drinking that has been going on on their campuses. The Harvard School of Public Health did a study that found that binge drinking had to do with the culture of the campus, and found that campuses that had Greek Life as well as intercollegiate athletics had much higher rates of binge drinking. Personally, I do not think that the drinking age should be lowered. I think that students are going to drink regardless of their age and whether it is legal or not. This is just going to allow more people to be outwardly drunk in public and able to make bad decisions like drunk driving, or participating in risky behavior like unprotected sex. I think that if schools are having problems with binge drinking they should make some changes within their respective university like increasing education and awareness of binge drinking.

Texting and Health

When I googled text messaging and health, numerous articles and websites turned up. The first one I found was an article talking about a nanny who used a text messaging service which told her what kinds of fish contained PCBs, and the different levels each of them had. PCBs are toxic substances that fish can carry, so the lowest levels possible are ideals. With a quick text, the nanny had all the information she needed. The article also talked about women in England using text alerts to remind them to take their birth control pills at the same time everyday. San Francisco uses billboards to promote a phone number people can text with common health related questions. In New Zealand they use text messaging to accompany tobacco cessation programs with young smokers. The trial has said that it has doubled the rate of quitting.

I think that these different text messaging programs sound like great ideas. They give helpful information and tools to all sorts of different people with different issues. The one problem I see is that there is not enough regulation among text messaging with young kids. Some programs might want to adopt some kind of parental release before kids under the age of 18 can text to the certain number. I think that this would eliminate a lot of angry parents.

Adventures in Whyville

I chose to go to Whyville to create my avatar. I thought that this site had some positive aspects and some negative. I found it hard to "chat" with the other avatars and some of the activities were difficult using a computer. Sometimes people would not reply to my questions or hello's. I did enjoy the fit zone area. It had fun activities and good information. If you go to the right area of Whyville you can find useful tools and knowledge, I think that fitness is best addressed in Whyville. I also really enjoyed visiting the food court and doing the WhyEat activity. It gave me useful tips and made it seem quite real (minus really eating). I think that these virtual worlds can really come in handy for people who want a fun alternative to learning about healthy behavior. I think that this program should target middle school to high school students because at this age they are very likely to enjoy the similarities of online gaming/chatting.

Philosophies of Health Care

I looked at 3 different websites for my blog this week, they included the CDC, NIH, and OHSU. Listed below are their visions and/or mission statements.

CDC
From the Director
Welcome to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Each day at CDC, we try to imagine a safer, healthier world. A world where infants are born healthy and cared for -- so, as children, they can arrive at school safe, well-nourished, and ready to learn. A world in which teenagers have the information, motivation, and hope they need to make healthy choices about their lifestyles and behaviors. A world in which adults enjoy active and productive lives in safe communities where they can remain independent and engaged with family and friends throughout their senior years.

CDC′s Mission is to collaborate to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health – through health promotion, prevention of disease, injury and disability, and preparedness for new health threats.
CDC′s Vision for the 21st Century is "Health Protection…Health Equity"

NIH
NIH Mission
NIH is the steward of medical and behavioral research for the Nation. Its mission is science in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.


OHSU
A Vision for the Future
As the state of Oregon’s only health and research university, OHSU is a unique resource for Oregonians and the place where healing, teaching and discovery come together to serve the entire state. We train the healthcare professionals that Oregon communities need. We provide care to those with the most difficult health challenges. And our faculty works every day to come up with new discoveries that help save lives.

When going over these statements I noticed that the CDC and NIH are more focused on prevention and education. OHSU is a hospital, so it is going to have less focus on prevention. It is a teaching institution and does mention teaching in their vision. After analyzing all of these websites, I would most love to work for the CDC. That is somewhere I have wanted to work since first becoming interested in public health. When I do look for my career choice, I will definitely look into which ever company I am interested, and see how their philosophy lines up with my values and what I want to accomplish in my career.

LGBT

What does the acronym LGBT stand for?
LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
What are some of the modifiable risk factors influencing the health of people who identify as LGBT?
Some of the modifiable risk factors include, promiscuous sexual behavior, abusing alcohol and/or drugs, and not practicing safe sex habits.
What are some of the social risk factors influencing the health of people who identify as LGBT?
Some of the social risk factors include, suicide, as well as depression from being alienated by homophobics.
What are some of the primary disease and/or health concerns of those who identify as LBGT?
Some of the primary health concerns are: HIV/AIDS, syphilis, drug abuse, depression, and tobacco usage.
Provide three possible solutions to the problems addressed in the questions above.
I think that these can be solved by practicing safe sex, and promoting healthy behavior among peers. Also, more things need to be done with getting the word out to homophobic people that there is nothing wrong with being associated with LGBT.

H256Week2

I really enjoyed listening to this podcast. The podcast discussed Staying safe behind the wheel. Some of the things I heard astonished me. I didnt know that 4100 teenagers died due to motor vehicle crashes. They are the leading cause of deaths among teens. Teens are 4x more likely to be in a motor vehicle crash than older age groups. Lack of maturity, text messaging, and talking on the phone can lead to crashes. Graduated licensing is helpful in reducing crashes by as much as 38 percent. Parents can be a big help in preventing their teens from getting into crashes. They can give resourceful information to teens about safe driving habits. I think that this podcast would be very useful for teachers to play in classrooms, or have teens listen to it as part of drivers ed. Parents would also find the information in this podcast very useful.

H256Week1

I think that the government has, to some extent, the right to legislate good health. I dont necessarily believe that the government can require people to have health care, but I think that the government should somehow make health care a more easily accessable option. For instance, Oregon Health Plan has a lottery for people to join the program, I think that if the government can spend so much money on other things that they should allot more for programs like the CDC and national health care.